Wide area network connections over the Internet have interconnected many electronic devices, such as computers and mobile smart phones, to remote servers and remote storage devices so that cloud computer services can be provided. More electronic devices are poised to be interconnected over the Internet as wireless radio transmitter/receivers are added to them.
Access by a user to some electronic devices and databases is often by a login name and password. As more portable electronic devices are used, such as laptop computers and mobile smart phones, in a highly mobile computing environment, correct authentication of people and devices becomes important to ascertain authorized use and lower risks linked to data misrouting. For example, as more mobile health electronic devices are introduced, privacy of the captured health data by the mobile health devices becomes important. As more banking and payments are made using mobile electronic devices, authorized use becomes important.
Authentication of a user using a local electronic device is often performed by a remote server. Software applications executed by the local electronic device often save the login name and password of the user to make an electronic device and its software applications easier to use. Protecting the local access of the user's electronic device has become more important in protecting the user and his/her login name and password when an electronic device is lost or stolen. With electronic devices now being used to make payments like credit card transactions, protection of local access to a user's electronic device has become even more important.
Referring now to FIG. 1, various known behavioral and anatomical identification methods are illustrated. Behavioral identification methods are linked to what the user does or his/her habits. Known anatomical identification methods are linked to physical features of the user, such as fingerprints, iris eye scans, veins, facial scans, and DNA.
Biometrics are being used to better authenticate a user to provide greater protection of mobile electronic devices. Biometrics have been pursued with anatomical based approaches (i.e., physical features such as fingerprints, iris eye scans, veins, facial scans, DNA, etc.) and habit (behavioral) approaches (typing or keystrokes, handwriting signatures, voice or vocal inflections). For example, an anatomical aspect of the user, such as a fingerprint, is used to locally authenticate a user and restrict access to the electronic device. As another example, hand morphology or the position of the veins can be used with an image analysis to locally authenticate a user and restrict access to the electronic device.
Behavioral aspects of a user may also be used to better authenticate a user to provide greater protection of mobile electronic devices. The behavioral aspect involves a personal profile of a user's unique habits, tastes, and behavior. For example, the way a user signs his/her signature is a unique behavioral aspect that can be used to verify a user's identity.
However, neither known anatomical nor known behavioral aspects of user identification are foolproof. For example, known user data used for comparison can be stolen from a server and used without the user's knowledge. Additional hardware is often required to capture biometrics from the user that leads to increased costs. With known added hardware, risks may be increased where a user may be forced by another to unwillingly capture biometric data. Behavioral aspects may be somewhat intrusive and raise privacy issues. Sensing for behavioral aspects is often performed with software that requires a system to remain powered on, consuming energy that is often stored in rechargeable batteries. Moreover, biometrics using behavioral aspects often require the added expense of maintaining remote centralized databases.